Consuming Loneliness
by Dear.Beth
Summary: Maya's loneliness consumes. Sometimes it just takes the company of someone that understands to ease her pain. A.N. This was just a quick little snippet that's been on my mind. Enjoy! Lucaya. Reupload. A little sad and depressing but I think it's fitting to the characters.


Maya Hart knew what isolation felt like. She knew the pain of loneliness and the eerie darkness that could consume all of the happiness she felt during the day. She had a great group of friends that distracted her from the life she desperately tried to escape. Riley was sweet and always made her smile with her childish and whimsical mind. Farkle was brilliant and could always tell when Maya needed an extra hug. Lucas…well Lucas seemed to understand her on a level that her other two friends never could. She loved her little family, but her friends were only a distraction to the emptiness she felt when she retreated to her vacant house at the end of the night.

Katy was a great mom, but she was never around. Maya understood the sacrifices that her mother made for her. She worked all day still chasing her dream of acting and in the evenings she picked up extra shifts at the diner. Maya knew that her mother loved her but that didn't stop the lonesomeness from creeping in once the sun faded to black. The uninhabited apartment building that she lived in was always quiet once the night hours ticked on. Her joy and happiness faded with the light and she was once more reminded of her solitude.

Maya felt completely alone.

Maya felt completely empty.

Maya felt completely pathetic.

_Ping_

The bright light of her phone lit up next to her head on her pillow. The tears that blurred her vision cascaded down her cheeks as she picked up the device in her trembling hand. Blinking away the warm tears she looked at the clock on her phone before unlocking the device to find the disturbance to her isolation.

_**1:00 AM**_

Huckleberry: Maya

**Maya:** **Lucas**

Huckleberry: Are you awake?

**Maya:** **I'm texting you aren't I?**

Huckleberry: Is your mom home?

Maya hated this question, hated admitting that she was all alone, it felt too vulnerable. What she hated more though was admitting that she wasn't strong enough to be okay on her own, that it scared her to be in her apartment all by her lonesome

**Maya: ****No**

Huckleberry: ….

Huckleberry: Want me to come over?

**Maya…**

**Maya: ****Please.**

She hated the desperation that she felt sending her plea but she hadn't found a way to resist the offer. She never meant for it to happen, neither of them did, but one night Maya let it slip. They had just left their favorite café, Farkle and Riley were on a sugar high jumping and skipping down the sidewalk in their own world. Lucas turned to Maya and asked if she wanted him to walk her home. Normally she would retort with a ha hur and a no, but the previous night had been rough. She was drenched in sadness and on top of that she had thought she heard her door rattling in the middle of the night. Maya agreed without argument and the pair parted from Farkle and Riley.

Once they reached her apartment Lucas went for a hug ready to say his goodbyes. It was in that moment when Maya lost complete control in Lucas' arms. He pulled her close and soothed her till she had the ability to speak through her soft sobs. She told him everything. She told him how most nights Katy was working and she was alone in that apartment scared and secluded. She spilled to him about the consuming emptiness and feeling as if all the happiness was sucked out of her life every time she stepped back into her lonely, depressing world.

Lucas had a heart of gold and swept her into the apartment, he held her in his arms until she stopped crying and he offered to stay until she fell asleep. He whispered in her ear and told her that he understood. When he and his mother moved to New York there was a time where he too was alone in an empty apartment. He understood the toll of confinement and he promised to be there whenever she felt lonely. That first night he had offered to sleep on her floor but it didn't take long for Maya to invite him into her bed. It didn't take long for her to cuddle in to his arms, and didn't take long for her to miss him on the nights he wasn't there.

Maya was startled from her thoughts when there was a light rapping on her cracked window. She glanced back at her phone and was surprised at the amount of time that had passed.

_**1:45 AM**_

Maya let her feet drag across the cold ground towards the window with the flashing neon lights. Maya brushed away the wet tears from her eyes before lifting the glass and letting in a rush of cold New York air. The friends stared at each other for a brief moment before Maya stepped aside and let Lucas walk over to her twin sized bed. He wore basketball shorts and a shirt that usually ended up on Maya's floor sometime in the middle of the night from the extreme heat of their sleeping bodies.

They never said a word to each other, instead they just moved to Maya's bed and laid down like they had done many times before. Maya curled into a ball on her side and Lucas encompassed her small frame with his own muscular body. His arms protectively wrapped around her and Maya let the tension finally release from her body. The tears came back and Maya couldn't help but sniffle as her entire body began shaking while she tried to control the tears.

"Maya." His voice was a soft whisper that tickled the back of her neck his arms pulling her closer. "Maya you are not alone. I will always come for you." The words pulled at her heart and she twisted in his arms to look up at his sincere face, it only made her cry more. Lucas lifted his hand and ran his thumb across her cheek, swiping away the rolling tears. He pulled her closer, tucking her head under his chin and resting his leg over her ankles. He held onto her tight until the tears stopped and they both drifted into a relaxed slumber.

In the morning Lucas would untangle his limbs from Maya, retrieve his sweaty discarded t-shirt and lean down to place a chaste kiss on Maya's forehead. He'd crawl out her window and head home to get ready for the day. When they saw each other at school they'd pretend they hadn't just seen each other mere hours ago. They would laugh and smile and call each other names, keeping their secret from their friends.

Through the length of the day Maya would hope and pray and dream that each night she would hear that familiar _ping _and he would come through her window and banish away the loneliness for just one more night.

He always did.


End file.
